In this article we are going to try and help you remove [email protected] Virus Ransomware. Our instructions cover all Windows versions.

The most feared cyber threat of them all is a type of malicious program called ransomware. The ransomware most likely responsible for your being here, on this page right now is [email protected], which has also probably locked up your files with a strong encryption. Our removal guide has been created just to help you deal with this issue and effectively remove the virus from your machine. But because simply removing it is not enough and won’t give you back your control over the affected files, we’ve also included some steps that aim to restore them. Please bear in mind that ransomware is dubbed the most dangerous kind of malware for a reason: its effects often prove irreversible and the damages – beyond repair. What we’re saying by this is that no one is capable of guaranteeing that you will ever be able to use your files again, but it’s worth trying whatever you can before giving up on the idea. Read through the following article in order to gain a better understanding of the problem at hand and also learn for ways to avoid any such infections from happening henceforth.

There are several main possibilities of infection, the primary of which are malvertisements and malicious websites. The former represent ads that were either created by hackers or were taken advantage by them and were injected with the virus. Clicking on one such ad will either result in the automatic download of the malware or in a redirect to a dangerous site that has viruses lurking on it and from which they can access your system. These misleading adverts can come in any shape or form from a popup, to a banner or box message and are especially dangerous because you cannot tell the difference between them and their legitimate counterparts. With this in mind, we strongly recommend abstaining from interacting with any ads you may see online. Note that this method has been determined by cyber security experts to be the most successful for ransomware distribution.

Other possible methods may be spam emails, only in that case you will first be paid a visit by a Trojan horse virus, as they sort of clear the way for [email protected] or another one of its kind. The Trojan is typically enclosed within an attached file, like a Word or PDF document, and is activated the moment you open the attachment. After this the ransomware is automatically downloaded by it. Here it’s important to know that the spam emails can be very sophisticated and can be made to look like legitimate emails from already existing companies or organizations. Therefore it is paramount for your security that you don’t rush into opening whatever you first notice in your inbox. Take your time to analyze whatever information you can gain about the message without opening it and take extra safety measures if need be, like writing the company in question separately and asking to confirm that they had indeed emailed you.

The encryption process and the ransom

Once on your PC, [email protected] immediately gets to work and begins encrypting your most used files (mainly, but not exclusively documents, photos, music, etc.), by creating copies of them with a different extension – one unique to the specific virus – and deleting the originals. Thus, the files are rendered inaccessible. To make things worse, the process usually runs without any indication of it, which is also one of the reasons why [email protected] and its kind have grown so strong over the years. That and the fact that ransomware is a gold mine for hackers, extorting immense amounts of money from innocent victims like you. This should be one reason not to succumb to the blackmailing and deny the hackers the ransom they demand. After all, what would happen if people stopped paying? There’d be no sense in continuing with their evil scheme. Not to mention that associating with criminals has never really led to any good. There have been many examples of people transferring the demanded amount (which is usually requested in Bitcoins – the untraceable cryptocurrency that ensures the hackers remain anonymous) and never receiving the promised decryption key or receiving one that didn’t work. It’s up to you whether or not to pay the ransom, but do make sure to remove the virus from your system before doing anything else, as failing to do so could result in a repeated encryption afterwards.

Press CTRL + SHIFT + ESC keys simultaneously –> Processes Tab –> Select a suspicious process (use Google or ask us in the comments if you are not sure about a process) –> Right Click and Open File Location –> End the suspicious process in Task Manager –> Delete the Folders containing the suspicious files.